Jill Wagner says major U.S. military figures told her and David Lemanowicz they love Lioness, a response she took as proof the series got the details right. The praise lands as the show enters its third season and keeps leaning on realism in the work of the CIA and military.
Military praise for Lioness
“Major, major hitters in the U.S. military have come up to me and my husband and said how much they love the show,” Wagner said in an interview with PauseRewind’s Elizabeth Stanton. “And it's such an amazing honor because it's called ‘Lioness’. It's not called ‘Lion.’ It's called ‘Lioness,’ and it's told from a female perspective. That doesn't mean that we don't have amazing male actors and that are portraying some really powerhouse people. But the fact that they're buying it means that we got it right.”
Wagner also said, “I think that there's so much that we don't know, even within this show,” then pointed to her own read on the material and to Lemanowicz’s military background. She said friends and family have watched and asked whether certain events really happen, and she answered, “Yeah, it does. It does.”
Jill Wagner and two girls
Wagner said she is a mom of two girls, and that the first season was especially hard because she did not have them with her in Mallorca or Morocco. “The first season, I didn't have my girls in Mallorca or Morocco, and that was super challenging. And understanding that that won't work for me ever again,” she said. She added, “I think you just have to find the pockets that you can bring them with right.”
That family constraint is not just a side note. Laysla De Oliveira said the same production can leave a toll on actors’ families, especially when filming stretches into a “14-hour day.” She joked, “I lock my husband in the apartment of wherever I stay, so it's really not a problem for me,” then added, “No, whenever he can come visit, he does come visit.”
Laysla De Oliveira on the draw
De Oliveira said the series keeps circling back to “that things aren't so black and white.” She also described the tone as “raw, explosivesexy, hot, love, power.” That mix helps explain why the show can attract praise from viewers with real military experience while still asking its cast to live with the strain of long days and distance from home.
For Wagner, the military reaction is the cleaner industry signal. A series built around realism does not earn that kind of response by accident, and the validation becomes part of the pitch as Lioness moves deeper into its third season on Paramount+ in 2026. The unresolved test is narrower now: which specific details made the show convincing enough for the U.S. military figures who said they loved it.
